Basi del Diablo’s resident winemaker and boss released her New Year’s message today, 31 December. Full text below:

Ushering in the new year offers great joy to all of us but because of the hardships that we, as a collective, have had to go through this year, celebrating the arrival of 2022 might prove to be difficult. The holiday season has already been emotionally taxing, more so for those who lost loved ones this year. Life will always be filled with first meetings and final goodbyes, both being painful memories once a loved one leaves for good but there is always happiness in between and that is what we need to hold on to.

To those who are grieving, we do not have the words to assuage your sadness and your fears but know that you can always have faith in the future and the beautiful days that it will soon bring. The presence of your dearly departed will always be felt in the Christmases and New Years to come and even on days when you need them the most. And in the course of your healing, we hope that soon, you will find the will to celebrate their lives.

To our peers in the industry who needed to close their doors permanently, we are confident that you will rebuild. It will be marked by great labour but it will all be worth it.

To our countrymen from the southern part of the Philippines, we feel terrible for what you continue to endure. Many of you lost your homes while others lost family members. We feel helpless even if some of the relief operations we supported have already reached hard-hit areas and we feel that the only thing we can do now as a company is to continue our climate action advocacy and the programs under our sustainability campaign. We wish you brighter days ahead as strongly as we wish for the same. We hope that we can all work together to adapt to climate change and to mitigate what can still be mitigated.

Despite what we all had to bear, there are still many things to be thankful for. For most of the year, we drew great comfort from the simple blessings that Basi del Diablo received – from small purchases to big ones, from warm greetings from patrons, old and new, to our own milestones that we celebrated in the peace and quiet of our home. While Covid has made it impossible for us to celebrate the new year the way we used to, we are happy that there is one long-standing tradition that we can still partake in. We will be spending time with family this New Year’s Eve and we hope that all of you will be enjoying the same luxury.